Rx dual-band mixer

ABSTRACT

A dual-band input transceiver block is formed to operably receive one of a 2.4 GHz radio frequency signal or a 5.0 GHz radio frequency transceiver signal in a manner that minimizes duplication of circuitry and creates a combined circuit path for RF front end input stages for much of the input stage. More specifically, the embodiments of the present invention include separate amplification and mixing stages whose outputs are combined by a stabilized load with circuitry for removing a common mode feedback signal. As such, downstream components, such as amplifiers, filters, analog-to-digital converters, and other input path circuit elements, are not duplicated and may be used regardless of whether the dual-band transceiver is operating in a first or second frequency band. Operation is, in the described embodiment, only one frequency input at a time though the invention is not limited to such operation. More specifically, a first input section is operably coupled to receive a first local oscillation input and a first frequency band signal input. A second input section is coupled to receive a second local oscillation input and a second frequency band signal input. Outputs of the first and second input sections are produced to a stabilized load with a common mode feedback block for removing a common mode feedback signal. As such, an output signal is produced having a regulated DC level and having any common mode feedback signal eliminated there from.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present U.S. Utility patent application claims priority pursuant to35 U.S.C. § 120, as a continuation, to the following U.S. Utility patentapplication which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety and made part of the present U.S. Utility patent applicationfor all purposes:

-   -   1. U.S. Utility application Ser. No. 10/922,531, entitled “RX        Dual-Band Mixer,” (Attorney Docket No. BP3630), filed Aug. 20,        2004, pending, which claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §        119(e) to the following U.S. Provisional Patent Application        which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety        and made part of the present U.S. Utility patent application for        all purposes:        -   a. U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/592,742,            entitled “RX Dual-Band Mixer,” (Attorney Docket No. BP3630),            filed Jul. 30, 2004, expired.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present invention is directed in general to wireless communicationsystems. In one aspect, the present invention relates to a method andsystem for controlling the bandwidth properties of an adaptive mixer ina wireless communication device.

2. Related Art

Communication systems are known to support wireless and wire-linedcommunications between wireless and/or wire-lined communication devices.Such communication systems range from national and/or internationalcellular telephone systems to the Internet to point-to-point in-homewireless networks. Each type of communication system is constructed, andhence operates, in accordance with one or more communication standards.For instance, wireless communication systems may operate in accordancewith one or more standards including, but not limited to, IEEE 802.11,Bluetooth, advanced mobile phone services (AMPS), digital AMPS, globalsystem for mobile communications (GSM), code division multiple access(CDMA), local multi-point distribution systems (LMDS),multi-channel-multi-point distribution service (MMDS)

Depending on the type of wireless communication system, a wirelesscommunication device (such as a cellular telephone, two-way radio,personal digital assistant (PDA), personal computer (PC), laptopcomputer, home entertainment equipment, etc.) communicates directly orindirectly with other wireless communication devices. For directcommunications (also known as point-to-point communications), theparticipating wireless communication devices tune their receivers andtransmitters to the same channel or channels (e.g., one of the pluralityof radio frequency (RF) carriers of the wireless communication system)and communicate over the tuned channel(s). For indirect wirelesscommunications, each wireless communication device communicates directlywith an associated base station (e.g., for cellular services) and/or anassociated access point (e.g., for an in-home or in-building wirelessnetwork) via an assigned channel. To complete a communication connectionbetween the wireless communication devices, the associated base stationsand/or associated access points communicate with each other directly,via a system controller, via the public switched telephone network(PSTN), via the Internet, and/or via some other wide area network.

Wireless communication devices typically communicate with one anotherusing a radio transceiver (i.e., receiver and transmitter) that may beincorporated in, or coupled to, the wireless communication device. Thetransmitter typically includes a data modulation stage, one or moreintermediate frequency stages and a power amplifier. The data modulationstage converts raw data into baseband signals in accordance with aparticular wireless communication standard. The intermediate frequencystages mix the baseband signals with one or more local oscillations toproduce RF signals. The power amplifier amplifies the RF signals priorto transmission via an antenna.

In direct conversion transmitters/receivers, conversion directly betweenbaseband signals and RF signals is performed. The receiver is typicallycoupled to an antenna and includes a low noise amplifier, one or moreintermediate frequency stages, a filtering stage and a data recoverystage. The low noise amplifier receives inbound RF signals via theantenna and amplifies them. The intermediate frequency stages mix theamplified RF signals with one or more local oscillations to convert theamplified RF signal into baseband signals or intermediate frequency (IF)signals. The filtering stage filters the baseband signals or the IFsignals to attenuate unwanted out of band signals to produce filteredsignals. The data recovery stage recovers raw data from the filteredsignals in accordance with the particular wireless communicationstandard.

Wireless communication devices for multimedia audio and videoapplications generally require a higher data rate than is currentlyavailable with devices operating under the 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11gstandards. Several draft standards (such as the 802.11n draft standard)have been proposed to implement faster data rates for wireless devices.Wireless devices operating under these standards will be capable ofproviding data rates of up to 200 Mbps. Since these standards have notbeen finalized, they will be referred to generically as 802.11x herein.

As new designs are developed to achieve these higher data rates, therealso exists a desire to maintain backwards compatibility for a pluralityof beneficial reasons, including enabling new generation host devices tocommunicate with older generation access points. Moreover, there is acontinuing trend and desire to reduce the footprint size of the dye,notwithstanding ever-increasing levels of circuit complexity. Thus, itis possible to design a single integrated circuit radio transceiver thatincludes two complete radio circuits to maintain backwards compatibilitywith older systems while providing the benefits of the newer systems.Such an approach goes against the desire for decreasing the size of thedye, as well as the power consumption of the dye. Accordingly, what isneeded is a new generation integrated circuit radio transceiver thatprovides the high data rates of the newer systems, provides backwardscompatibility, and minimizes any increases in the size of the dye toaccommodate said functionality.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A dual-band input transceiver block is formed to operably receive one ofa 2.4 GHz radio frequency signal or a 5.0 GHz radio frequencytransceiver signal in a manner that minimizes duplication of circuitryand creates a combined circuit path for RF front end input stages formuch of the input stage. More specifically, the embodiments of thepresent invention include separate amplification and mixing stages whoseoutputs are combined by circuitry for stabilizing a common mode outputlevel. As such, downstream components, such as amplifiers, filters,analog-to-digital converters, and other input path circuit elements, arenot duplicated and may be used regardless of whether the dual-bandtransceiver is operating in a first or second frequency band.

More specifically, a first input section is operably coupled to receivea first local oscillation input and a first frequency band signal input.A second input section is coupled to receive a second local oscillationinput and a second frequency band signal input. Outputs of the first andsecond input sections are produced to a load with a common mode feedbackblock for stabilizing a common mode output level. As such, an outputsignal is produced having a regulated DC level and having any commonmode feedback signal eliminated there from.

In operation, the embodiment of the present invention includes receivinga first input signal in a first frequency band at a first inputtransistor pair and receiving a first local oscillation signal having afirst local oscillation frequency at a first switching pair.Additionally, the invention includes receiving a second input signal ina second frequency band at a second input transistor pair and receivinga second local oscillation signal having a second local oscillationfrequency at a second switching pair. In one embodiment of theinvention, the first local oscillation signal is divided by a factor ofN to produce the second local oscillation signal. The inventioncomprises at least one of mixing the first input signal with the firstlocal oscillation signal to produce a first down-converted signal andmixing the second input signal with a second local oscillation signal toproduce a second down-converted signal. In the embodiments of theinvention, the first and second down-converted signals are produced to afront end combined input path where they are filtered, amplified, andproduced to a baseband block.

The objects, advantages and other novel features of the presentinvention will be apparent from the following detailed description whenread in conjunction with the appended claims and attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a wireless communication systemin accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a radio implemented ina wireless communication device that includes a host device or moduleand at least one wireless interface device, or radio transceiver;

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of a wireless interface device inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of a dual-band radio inputtransceiver block formed according to one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 is a dual-band input transceiver block formed according to oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a functional schematic block diagram of a dual localoscillator output phase lock loop formed according to one embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 7 is a functional schematic diagram that illustrates a biasingtechnique according to one embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a method according to one embodimentof the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A method and apparatus for an improved wireless communication system isdescribed. While various details are set forth in the followingdescription, it will be appreciated that the present invention may bepracticed without these specific details. For example, selected aspectsare shown in block diagram form, rather than in detail, in order toavoid obscuring the present invention. Some portions of the detaileddescriptions provided herein are presented in terms of algorithms oroperations on data within a computer memory. Such descriptions andrepresentations are used by those skilled in the field of communicationsystems to describe and convey the substance of their work to othersskilled in the art. In general, an algorithm refers to a self-consistentsequence of steps leading to a desired result, where a “step” refers toa manipulation of physical quantities which may, though need notnecessarily, take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable ofbeing stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwisemanipulated. It is common usage to refer to these signals as bits,values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like.These and similar terms may be associated with the appropriate physicalquantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities.Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the followingdiscussion, it is appreciated that throughout the description,discussions using terms such as processing, computing, calculating,determining, displaying or the like, refer to the action and processesof a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, thatmanipulates and/or transforms data represented as physical, electronicand/or magnetic quantities within the computer system's registers andmemories into other data similarly represented as physical quantitieswithin the computer system memories or registers or other suchinformation storage, transmission or display devices.

FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless communication system 10 in whichembodiments of the present invention may operate. As illustrated, thewireless communication system 10 includes a plurality of base stationsor access points 12 and 16, a plurality of wireless communicationdevices 18-30 and a network hardware component 34. The wirelesscommunication devices 18-30 may be laptop host computers 18 and 26,personal digital assistant hosts 20 and 30, cellular telephone host 28,an 802.11a WLAN device, an 802.11g WLAN device and/or an 802.11x device24. The details of the wireless communication devices will be describedin greater detail with reference to FIGS. 2-7.

As illustrated, the base stations or access points 12 and 16 areoperably coupled to the network hardware 34 via local area networkconnections 36 and 38. The network hardware 34 (which may be a router,switch, bridge, modem, system controller, etc.) provides a wide areanetwork connection 42 for the communication system 10. Each of the basestations or access points 12 and 16 has an associated antenna or antennaarray to communicate with the wireless communication devices in itsarea. Typically, the wireless communication devices register with aparticular base station or access point 12 and 16 to receive servicesfrom the communication system 10. For direct connections (i.e.,point-to-point communications), wireless communication devicescommunicate directly via an allocated channel. Regardless of theparticular type of communication system, each wireless communicationdevice includes a built-in radio and/or is coupled to a radio. The radioincludes a highly linear amplifier and/or programmable multi-stageamplifier as disclosed herein to enhance performance, reduce costs,reduce size, and/or enhance broadband applications.

As may be seen, referring specifically to the network of FIG. 1, an802.11x device 24 is operably coupled to communicate with base stationsor access points 12 and 16 by one of 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g and802.11x protocols. As the demand for data throughput increases, there isa continuing design goal to provide new capabilities for host devices.One particular goal of newer generation systems, such as 802.11xsystems, is to provide real-time, over-the-air, video between an accesspoint and a host device. Thus, the embodiment of the present inventiondescribed herein is operable to communicate over 802.11x to provide therequired high data rates for video. Further, however, to maintainbackwards compatibility with older access points, 802.11x device 24further includes radio circuitry to communicate over 802.11a, 802.11b,or 802.11g protocols.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a radio implemented ina wireless communication device that includes a host device or module 50and at least one wireless interface device or radio transceiver 59. Thewireless interface device may be built-in components of the host device50 or externally coupled components. As illustrated, the host device 50includes a processing module 51, memory 52, a peripheral interface 55,an input interface 58 and an output interface 56. The processing module51 and memory 52 execute the corresponding instructions that aretypically done by the host device. For example, in a cellular telephonedevice, the processing module 51 performs the correspondingcommunication functions in accordance with a particular cellulartelephone standard. For data received from the wireless interface device59 (e.g., inbound data), the peripheral interface 55 provides the datato the processing module 51 for further processing and/or routing to theoutput interface 56. The output interface 56 provides connectivity to anoutput display device, such as a display, monitor, speakers, etc., suchthat the received data may be displayed. The peripheral interface 55also provides data from the processing module 51 to the wirelessinterface device 59. The processing module 51 may receive the outbounddata from an input device, such as a keyboard, keypad, microphone, etc.,via the input interface 58 or generate the data itself. For datareceived via the input interface 58, the processing module 51 mayperform a corresponding host function on the data, and/or route it tothe wireless interface device 59 via the peripheral interface 55.

The wireless interface device 59 includes a host interface 100, amedia-specific access control protocol (MAC) layer module 102, aphysical (PHY) layer module 104, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC)103, and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 105. Typically, transmitdata coming from the host device 50 is presented to the MAC 102, whichin turn presents it to the PHY 104. The PHY 104 processes the transmitdata (scrambling, encoding, modulation, etc.) and then transmits itsoutput to the DAC 103 for conversion to an analog signal. The DAC outputis then gained and filtered and passed to a front end module 61 or 66.

On the receive side, the front end module (61 or 66) output is gainedand filtered, then passed to the ADC 105 for conversion to a digitalsignal. This digital signal is processed (demapped, decoded,descrambled, etc.) by the PHY 104 and the bits are passed through theMAC 102 to the host device 50 for delivery to the output interface 56.As will be appreciated, the modules in the wireless interface device areimplemented with a communications processor and an associated memory forstoring and executing instructions that control the access to thephysical transmission medium in the wireless network.

In addition to a first radio transceiver circuit and RF front end module61 (that may or may not be integrated on a common substrate with thewireless interface device 59), a second radio transceiver circuit and RFfront end module 66 is provided and coupled to the wireless interfacedevice 59. For example, the first radio transceiver circuit and RF frontend module 61 transforms baseband data into a 2.4 GHz signal inaccordance with the 802.11g standard, while the second radio transceivercircuit and RF front end module 66 transforms baseband data into a 5 GHzsignal in accordance with the 802.11a or 802.11x standard.

An external device 65 includes its own wireless interface device forcommunicating with the wireless interface device of the host device. Forexample, the host device may be a personal or laptop computer, and theexternal device 65 may be a headset, personal digital assistant,cellular telephone, printer, fax machine, joystick, keyboard, desktoptelephone, or access point of a wireless local area network.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of a wireless interface device(i.e., a radio) 60 which includes a host interface 62, a digitalreceiver processing module 64, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 67,a filtering/gain module 68, a down-conversion module 70, a receiverfilter module 71, a low noise amplifier 72, a transmitter/receiverswitch module 73, a local oscillation module 74, memory 75, a digitaltransmitter processing module 76, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC)78, a filtering/gain module 80, a mixing up-conversion module 82, apower amplifier 84, a transmitter filter module 85 and an antennacontrol module 77. The transmitter/receiver switch 73 is coupled to theantenna control 77 through which an antenna 86 is coupled to thewireless interface device 60. As will be appreciated, the antenna 86 maybe a polarized antenna, dual-band antenna with a diplexor, directionalantenna and/or may be physically separated to provide a minimal amountof interference. In addition, the antenna 86 may be used for eithertransmitting or receiving signals, depending on the switching specifiedby the transmitter/receiver switch module 73.

The digital receiver processing module 64, the digital transmitterprocessing module 76 and the memory 75 execute digital receiverfunctions and digital transmitter functions in accordance with aparticular wireless communication standard. The digital receiverfunctions include, but are not limited to, digital baseband frequencyconversion, demodulation, constellation demapping, decoding and/ordescrambling. The digital transmitter functions include, but are notlimited to, scrambling, encoding, constellation mapping, modulationand/or digital baseband frequency conversion. The digital receiver andtransmitter processing modules 64 and 76 may be implemented using ashared processing device, individual processing devices, or a pluralityof processing devices. Such a processing device may be a microprocessor,micro-controller, digital signal processor, microcomputer, centralprocessing unit, field programmable gate array, programmable logicdevice, state machine, logic circuitry, analog circuitry, digitalcircuitry and/or any device that manipulates signals (analog and/ordigital) based on operational instructions. The memory 75 may be asingle memory device or a plurality of memory devices. Such a memorydevice may be a read-only memory, random access memory, volatile memory,non-volatile memory, static memory, dynamic memory, flash memory, and/orany device that stores digital information. Note that when theprocessing modules 64 and 76 implement one or more of its functions viaa state machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry and/or logiccircuitry, the memory storing the corresponding operational instructionsmay be embedded with the circuitry comprising the state machine, analogcircuitry, digital circuitry and/or logic circuitry.

In operation, the wireless interface device 60 receives outbound data 94from the host device via the host interface 62. The host interface 62routes the outbound data 94 to the digital transmitter processing module76, which processes the outbound data 94 to produce digital transmissionformatted data 96 in accordance with a particular wireless communicationstandard, such as IEEE 802.11 (including all current and futuresubsections), Bluetooth, etc. The digital transmission formatted data 96will be a digital baseband signal or a digital low IF signal, where thelow IF typically will be in the frequency range of one hundred kilohertzto a few megahertz. Subsequent stages convert the digital transmissionformatted data 96 to an RF signal using the PHY module 104 and radiotransmission circuitry, and may be implemented as follows. Thedigital-to-analog converter 78 converts the digital transmissionformatted data 96 from the digital domain to the analog domain. Thefiltering/gain module 80 filters and/or adjusts the gain of the analogsignal prior to providing it to the radio interface module 35. Fortransmission in accordance with a first signaling protocol (e.g., IEEE802.11g, or 802.11x), the radio interface module 35 provides thefiltered/adjusted analog signal to the up-conversion module 82. Theup-conversion module 82 directly converts the analog baseband or low IFsignal into an RF signal based on a transmitter local oscillation clock83 provided by local oscillation module 74. The power amplifier 84amplifies the RF signal to produce outbound RF signal 98, which isfiltered by the transmitter filter module 85. Antenna switching controlsignals provided to the transmitter/receiver switch module 73 andantenna control module 77 route the outbound RF signal 98 fortransmission to a targeted device, such as a base station, an accesspoint and/or another wireless communication device, via antenna 86.

In accordance with a selected embodiment whereby a signal is to bereceived in accordance with a first signaling protocol (e.g., IEEE802.11g or 802.11x), the wireless interface device 60 receives aninbound RF signal 88 from antenna 86 via transmitter/receiver switchmodule 73 which was transmitted by a base station, an access point, oranother wireless communication device. The inbound RF signal isconverted into digital reception formatted data, either directly orthrough an intermediate frequency conversion process which may beimplemented as follows. The antenna control module 77 andtransmitter/receiver switch module 73 provide the inbound RF signal 88to the receiver filter module 71, where the receiver filter module 71bandpass filters the inbound RF signal 88. The receiver filter module 71provides the filtered RF signal to low noise amplifier 72, whichamplifies the inbound RF signal 88 to produce an amplified inbound RFsignal. The low noise amplifier 72 provides the amplified inbound RFsignal to the down-conversion module 70, which directly converts theamplified inbound RF signal into an inbound low IF signal or basebandsignal based on a receiver local oscillation clock 81 provided by localoscillation module 74. The down-conversion module 70 provides theinbound low IF signal or baseband signal to the filtering/gain module 68via the radio interface 35.

The filtering/gain module 68 filters and/or gains the inbound low IFsignal or the inbound baseband signal to produce a filtered inboundsignal. The analog-to-digital converter 67 converts the filtered inboundsignal from the analog domain to the digital domain to produce digitalreception formatted data 90. The digital receiver processing module 64decodes, descrambles, demaps, and/or demodulates the digital receptionformatted data 90 to recapture inbound data 92 in accordance with theparticular wireless communication standard being implemented by thewireless interface device 60. The host interface 62 provides therecaptured inbound data 92 to the host device (e.g., 50) via theperipheral interface (e.g., 55).

As will be appreciated, the wireless communication device describedherein may be implemented using one or more integrated circuits. Forexample, the host device 50 may be implemented on one integratedcircuit, the digital receiver processing module 64, the digitaltransmitter processing module 76 and memory 75 may be implemented on asecond integrated circuit, the remaining components of the wirelessinterface device 60 may be implemented on a third integrated circuit andthe second transceiver and antenna section 40 may be implemented on afourth integrated circuit. Alternatively, the MAC 102, PHY 104 and radiotransceiver 61 may be implemented as one integrated circuit, a front endmodule 109 may be implemented as a second integrated circuit and asecond transceiver and antenna section 40 may be implemented as a thirdintegrated circuit.

As another alternate example, the wireless interface device 60 may beimplemented on a first integrated circuit and the second transceiver andan antenna section 40 may be implemented in a second integrated circuit.As yet another example, the wireless interface device 60 and a secondtransceiver and antenna section 40 may be implemented in a singleintegrated circuit. In addition, the processing module 51 of the hostdevice and the digital receiver and transmitter processing modules 64and 76 may be a common processing device implemented on a singleintegrated circuit. Further, the memory 52 and memory 75 may beimplemented on a single integrated circuit and/or on the same integratedcircuit as the common processing modules of processing module 51 and thedigital receiver and transmitter processing module 64 and 76.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of a dual-band radio inputtransceiver block formed according to one embodiment of the presentinvention. As may be seen, a dual-band radio input transceiver block 150includes a first input section 154, a second input section 158, and acommon stabilized load block 162 with common mode feedback to eliminatea common mode signal component. First input section 154 is coupled toreceive a first local oscillation input and a first frequency bandsignal input. Similarly, second input section 158 is coupled to receivea second frequency band signal input and a second local oscillationinput. The first input section 154 and the second input section 158contain schematically similar circuits for receiving a signal input andfor mixing that signal input with a local oscillation. Significantly,however, the geometries of the transistor elements within the first andsecond input sections 154 and 158 are varied to optimize each inputsection for its corresponding frequency band. Generally, it is desirableto minimize power consumption and noise while improving linearity andgain. As such, a tradeoff exists between some of these competing goals.Thus, linearity and gain may be sacrificed for the sake of reducingpower consumption and reducing noise. One type of noise that isspecifically reduced or increased according to device geometries isflicker noise, for example.

As may further be seen from FIG. 4, the first and second input sections154 and 158 include a common stabilized load that produces a stabilizedoutput without a common mode signal component. As such, the output ofthe stabilized load block 162, here in FIG. 4, may be produced todownstream front end radio transceiver elements, such as variable gainamplifiers, filters, and analog-to-digital converter blocks. As such,the output of the first input section 154 and the second input section158, which is a down-converted signal, is produced to a front endcombined input path. Interestingly, even though first input section 154and second input section 158 receive first frequency band signal inputsand second frequency band signal inputs, respectively, an outputfrequency of the first and second input sections is designed to beoperably similar. Accordingly, in one embodiment of the invention, firstand second input sections both produce a baseband frequency signal. In asecond embodiment of the invention, first and second input sections 154and 158 produce a low intermediate frequency band signal. In eithercase, stabilized load block 162 with common mode feedback produces astabilized output signal, 1.2 volts in the described embodiment, withouta common mode signal component.

FIG. 5 is a dual-band input transceiver block formed according to oneembodiment of the present invention. A first transistor input section164 and a second transistor input section 166 have commonly coupledoutputs that are produced to a stabilized load block 170 with commonmode feedback. First transistor input section 164 includes a pair ofinput transistors M1 and M2 that are operatively coupled to receive afirst frequency signal input. Two additional transistor pairs formed oftransistors M3 and M4, and M5 and M6, respectively, are operativelycoupled to receive a first local oscillation input. Generally, thetransistors M1-M6 are operatively coupled to form a Gilbert multiplier.The operation of Gilbert multipliers is known by one of average skill inthe art. In one embodiment of the invention, though not specificallyshown herein, a current source (sink) may be coupled to the sources oftransistors M1 and M2 to provide a bias signal therefor. In theembodiments of the present invention, however, a different biasingscheme will be illustrated in greater detail in FIG. 7 below.

Similar to first transistor input section 164, second transistor inputsection 166 includes a plurality of transistors that are also coupledsimilarly and that also forms a Gilbert multiplier. Here, secondfrequency signal inputs are coupled to transistors M7 and M8. The secondlocal oscillation input is coupled to the gates of transistors M3 and M4and transistors M5 and M6. While the operation of the Gilbertmultipliers of the first and second transistor input sections 164 and166 is known, the inventors generally note that an output of each of theGilbert multipliers is characterized by a frequency that is equal to oneof the sum of the frequencies of the local oscillation and the inputsignals or a difference of the local oscillation and the input signals.Typically, the Gilbert multiplier produces an output having twofrequencies wherein a filter is used to select the desired frequencysignal. As such, Gilbert multipliers, as shown herein, may be used toup-convert or down-convert a received radio frequency signal to a lowerfrequency, such as an intermediate frequency signal or a basebandfrequency signal.

As is further shown in FIG. 5, the outputs at the drains of transistorsM3-M6 and M9-M12 are connected as shown herein. Generally, in oneembodiment of the invention, only one of the first and second transistorinput sections is operable at a given instant. By using switch circuitry(not shown herein), one of the two transistor input sections 164 and 166may be electrically removed from the circuit. As such, the outputs ofthe transistor input sections 164 and 166 that are electrically coupledare produced to stabilized load block 170 with common mode feedback.

Stabilized load block 170 with common mode feedback includes adifferential transistor pair comprised of transistors M13 and M14 whosegates are commonly coupled. In the described embodiment of theinvention, transistors M13 and M14 are PMOS transistors, while all othertransistors described thus far are NMOS transistors. A drain oftransistor M13 is coupled to receive one of two outputs of first andsecond input transistor sections 164 and 166 and is further coupled to afirst differential load resistor RL1. Similarly, a drain of transistorM14 is coupled to a second output of first and second input transistorsections 164 and 166 and is further coupled to a second differentialload resistor RL2. Differential load resistors RL1 and RL2 are commonlycoupled and are further coupled to an input of a comparator 174.Comparator 174 compares a signal level between differential loadresistors RL1 and RL2 to a reference voltage which, in the describedembodiment, is equal to 1.2 volts. This reference voltage happens to beequal to ⅔ of a supply voltage level of 1.8 volts. An output ofcomparator 174 is commonly coupled to the gates of transistors M13 andM14. In operation, the comparator 174, as coupled here in FIG. 5, tendsto cause an output signal level at the drains of transistors M13 and M14to be regulated at the reference voltage level of 1.2 volts. As such,according to which of the first and second input transistor sections 164and 166 is operable at a given instant, an output signal from thedual-band input transceiver block of FIG. 5 will be stabilized at 1.2volts and will have removed any common mode signal component appearingbetween the drains of transistors M13 and M14.

The inventors herein generally observe that a low noise amplifierreceiving an input RF signal produces reduced levels of gain for higherfrequency levels. Herein, for example, a low noise amplifier cannotproduce as much gain for a 5 GHz input signal as it can for a 2.4 GHzsignal. Accordingly, it is desirable, especially for the 5 GHz inputsignal, to increase gain. Generally, an increase in a transistor'slength/width ratio increases the gain as well as linearity. A drawback,however, is that current also increases, thereby increasing powerconsumption. Noise, especially flicker noise, also decreases as yetanother advantage to increasing the length/width ratio.

Accordingly, device geometries are optimally changed for the first andsecond input transistor sections 164 and 166 according to the frequencyband in which each will be operating. Accordingly, the transistors ofthe first input transistor section which operates at 5 GHz, will tend tohave greater length/width ratios than the second input transistorsection 166 which operates at 2.4 GHz. In one embodiment of theinvention, for example, the length-to-width ratios for the inputtransistors of the first input transistor section 164 are approximatelytwice that of the second input transistor section 166. In the describedembodiments of the invention, the input transistors M1 and M2 forreceiving the first frequency signal input are formed with alength/width ratio equal to 26/0.18 microns. The length/width ratios forthe second frequency signal input transistor pairs formed by transistorsM7 and M8 are equal to 12/0.18 microns. A length-to-width ratio fortransistors M3-M6, in the described embodiment of the invention, isequal to 44/0.25 microns. Similarly, the length-to-width ratios for thesecond switching transistor pairs, comprised of transistors M9-M12, isequal to 32/0.25 microns.

In the described embodiment of the invention, the inventors note thatthe length-to-width ratios described are minimal ratios and that thespecific numbers are based on 0.18 micron technology. If a differentmicron technology is used to form a circuit that includes teachings ofthe present invention, then the lengths would proportionately changeaccording to a change in the micron technology. For example, microntechnology processes that are presently available are as small as 0.09microns. As such, the first input transistor section, and morespecifically, the first frequency signal input transistors M1 and M2,would have a length of 13 microns to correspond to a width of 0.09microns to maintain the same ratio. As device sizes will continue toshrink with improvements in technology, the lengths may further bereduced. For example, it is expected that 0.045 micron technologyprocesses will be upon us before too long.

Each of these length-to-width ratios illustrated is a minimum accordingto the described embodiments of the invention. Generally, thoselength-to-width ratios may be increased by as much as 50 percent.Accordingly, transistors M1 and M2 may have a length-to-width ratioequal to 39/0.18, while transistors M7 and M8 have a length-to-widthratio of 18/0.18. Similarly, while transistors M3-M6 may be producedwith a length-to-width ratio equal to 66/0.25, transistors M9-M12 may beformed with a length-to-width ratio of 48/0.25. Again, if the microntechnology is reduced, these ratios may also be proportionately reduced.Generally, the described ratios of the embodiment of the invention areratios that achieve design requirements for linearity and gain whilereducing noise and power consumption.

FIG. 6 is a functional schematic block diagram of a dual localoscillator (LO) output phase lock loop (PLL) formed according to oneembodiment of the present invention. A PLL block produces a voltage to avoltage controlled oscillator that produces a frequency f1 based on aninput voltage level. The frequency f1 is produced to a “divide by 2”block which produces a signal f1/2 to a mixer. The output signal f1 ofthe VCO is also produced as an input to the mixer. As a result, themixer produces an output signal equal to 3f1/2. This output signal 3f1/2is the first LO signal. That signal, in the described embodiment, isalso produced to a “divide by N” block (2 in the described example)which produces a 3f1/4 frequency signal as the second LO signal. As maybe seen, the first LO signal has a frequency that is twice the second LOsignal. Advantageously, producing a second LO signal in this mannerreduces potential phase and timing problems.

FIG. 7 is a functional schematic diagram that illustrates a biasingtechnique according to one embodiment of the present invention. A supplyvoltage is coupled to a current source that produces a current I into acurrent mirror configuration formed by a transistor M15. A gate oftransistor M15 is coupled between two resistors of a voltage divider.One end of each resistor of the voltage divider is coupled to the gatesof transistors M16 and M17 which are the transistors of the inputtransistor pairs of FIG. 5. For example, M16 may be either M1 or M2 ofFIG. 5, or transistors M7 and M8, also of FIG. 5. Using a current mirroras described here in FIG. 7 is advantageous in that transistors M16 andM17 may be biased into an operational mode while minimizing a voltagedrop for biasing purposes in a signal path.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a method according to one embodimentof the present invention. The method includes receiving a first inputsignal in a first frequency band at a first input transistor pair (step200). A first local oscillation (LO) signal having a first LO frequencyis also received at a first switching pair (step 202). A second inputsignal is received in a second frequency band at a second inputtransistor pair (step 204). In one embodiment of the invention, theinvention includes dividing the first LO signal by a factor of N toproduce a second LO signal (step 206). Thereafter, the inventionincludes receiving the second LO signal having a second LO frequency ata second switching pair (step 208). Thereafter, the invention includesmixing the first input signal with the first LO signal to produce afirst down-converted signal (step 210). Additionally, the inventionincludes mixing the second input signal with the second LO signal toproduce a second down-converted signal (step 212). In the describedembodiments of the invention, the outputs are produced to a front endcombined input path. Effectively, the outputs are combined at astabilized load block that removes a common mode feedback signal.Accordingly, the invention includes combining the first and seconddown-converted signals to produce a combined signal and removing acommon mode feedback signal from the combined signals (step 214).Finally, in the front end combined input path, the invention includesfiltering, amplifying and producing the combined signal to a basebandblock (step 216).

As described here in FIG. 8, the circuitry includes first and secondinput transistor pairs and first and second switching pairs for each ofthe first and second frequency input signals. The separate signal pathsare then combined after the mixing circuitry that down-converts thereceived RF signal to one of a baseband frequency signal or intermediatefrequency signal. In one embodiment of the invention, the input circuitsmay operate simultaneously while, in another embodiment of theinvention, the first and second input transistor pairs are switched tooperate in a mutually exclusive manner. For this embodiment, a dual-bandtransceiver may operate by alternating between frequency bands accordingto the devices with which it is communicating.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications andalternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by wayof example in the drawings and detailed description. It should beunderstood, however, that the drawings and detailed description theretoare not intended to limit the invention to the particular formdisclosed, but, on the contrary, the invention is to cover allmodifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spiritand scope of the present invention as defined by the claims. As may beseen, the described embodiments may be modified in many different wayswithout departing from the scope or teachings of the invention.

1. A method in an integrated circuit transceiver for communicating overa plurality of frequency bands, the method comprising: receiving a firstinput signal in a first frequency band at a first input transistor pair;receiving a first local oscillation (LO) signal having a first LOfrequency at a first switching pair of the first input section;producing a first down converted signal at an output node based on thefirst input signal and the first LO signal; receiving a second inputsignal in a second frequency band at a second input transistor pair of asecond input section; receiving a second LO signal having a second LOfrequency at a second switching pair of the second input section;producing a second down converted signal at the output node based on thesecond input signal and the second LO signal; and conducting at leastone of the first and second down converted signals in a radio frequencyfront end signal path and filtering, amplifying, and producing andingoing digital signal to a processing block.
 2. The method of claim 1further including removing a common mode feedback signal from the firstand second down converted signals.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein thefirst and second down converted signals are Intermediate Frequency (IF)signals.
 4. The method of claim 1 further including producing, in aphase locked loop circuit, the first LO signal and dividing the first LOsignal by a constant value to produce the second LO signal.
 5. Themethod of claim 4 wherein the second LO signal is produced by dividingthe first LO signal by three.
 6. The method of claim 4 wherein thesecond LO signal is produced by dividing the first LO signal by two. 7.An integrated circuit transceiver for communicating over a plurality offrequency bands comprising: a first input transistor pair of a firstinput section that receives a first input signal in a first frequencyband; a first switching pair of the first input section that receives afirst local oscillation (LO) signal having a first LO frequency; whereinan output node coupled to an output of the first input section producesa first down converted signal based on the first input signal and thefirst LO signal; receiving a second input signal in a second frequencyband at a second input transistor pair of a second input section;receiving a second LO signal having a second LO frequency at a secondswitching pair of the second input section; wherein the output node isfurther coupled to an output of the second input section and produces asecond down converted signal based on the second input signal and thesecond LO signal wherein the output nodes of the first and second inputsections are commonly coupled to the output node; and a radio front endsignal path that filters, amplifies, and produces and ingoing digitalsignal to a processing block based on at least one of the first orsecond down converted signals received from the output node.
 8. Theintegrated circuit transceiver of claim 7 further including a stabilizedload block that: receives at least one of the first and seconddown-converted signals from the first and second switching transistorpair; and cancels a common mode signal level to produce a stabilizedoutput signal based on a reference voltage.
 9. The integrated circuittransceiver of claim 7 wherein the first and second down-convertedsignals are intermediate frequency band signals having a frequency inexcess of 40 MHz.
 10. The integrated circuit transceiver of claim 7wherein the transistor geometry of the first input transistor pair andthe first switching transistor pair are optimized for the firstfrequency band.
 11. The integrated circuit transceiver of claim 10wherein the first frequency band is approximately 5 GHz and wherein thetransistor geometry for first input transistor pair is formed to have acorresponding length-to-width ratio.
 12. The integrated circuittransceiver of claim 11 wherein the transistor geometry comprises anapproximate comprises an approximate specified length in the range of 26to 39 microns and a width in the range of 0.045 to 0.24 microns.
 13. Theintegrated circuit transceiver of claim 10 wherein the first frequencyband is approximately 2.4 GHz and wherein the transistor geometry forfirst input transistor pair is formed to have a correspondinglength-to-width ratio.
 14. The integrated circuit transceiver of claim13 wherein the transistor geometry comprises an approximate comprises anapproximate specified length in the range of 26 to 39 microns and awidth in the range of 0.045 to 0.24 microns.
 15. The integrated circuittransceiver of claim 10 wherein the second frequency band isapproximately 2.4 GHz and the second input transistor pair optimizedtransistor geometry comprises an approximate specified length in therange of 12 to 18 microns and a width in the range of 0.045 to 0.24microns.
 16. The integrated circuit transceiver of claim 10 wherein thesecond frequency band is approximately 2.4 GHz and the second inputtransistor pair optimized transistor geometry comprises an approximatespecified length in the range of 44 to 66 microns and a width in therange of 0.25 to 0.38 microns.
 17. A method in an integrated circuittransceiver for communicating over a plurality of frequency bands, themethod comprising: producing first and second local oscillation (LO)signals wherein the first LO signal is a multiple of the second LOsignal; down converting a first input signal received at a first inputwith the first LO signal to produce a first down converted signal at anoutput node; down converting a second input signal received at a secondinput with the second LO signal to produce a second down convertedsignal at the output node; filtering, amplifying and converting at leastone of the first and second down converted signals to an ingoing digitalsignal and producing the ingoing digital signal to a processor.
 18. Themethod of claim 17 where the first and second down converted signals areboth baseband frequency signals.
 19. The method of claim 17 where thefirst and second down converted signals are both intermediate frequencysignals.
 20. The method of claim 17 further including removing a commonmode feedback signal from one of the first and second down convertedsignals produced to the output node of the input section.